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WOODROW WILSON 

An Appreciation 




WOODROW WILSON 



The Man 



"He who ascends to mountain tops shall find 

The highest peaks most wrapt in clouds and snow; 

He who surpasses or subdues mankind 

Must look down on the hate of those below." — Byron. 

IS COUNTRY called him, and he 
answered, and has written his 
name imperishably on the altar 
of sacrifice and achievement — 
not in pride, but in truth. Unceas- 
ingly he labored for Universal Broth- 
erhood and Peace, and his motives 
were beyond cavil; his art was Justice. 
The whole world hung upon the purity of 
his diction, the music of his lips, and the prom- 
ise in his words. He ascended to heights be- 
yond the mountain tops, and Envy passed him 
by. From, an exalted place in the heart of 
the world, he flashed and shone like the North- 




Copyright 1921, by Joseph De Barthe 



ern Star, unshaked of motion. "Too proud to 
fight" (but not too proud to battle for the 
right when weak contend with strong), he 
verified the axiom that "rightly to be great is 
not to stir without great argument, but gi'eatly 
to find quarrel in a straw when honor's at the 
stake." Great minds understood the meaning 
of his words; the envious were confounded 
and confused. He strove to redeem the im- 
plied promise of his country to mankind to be 
a foe to Oppression. 

The stricken world appealed to his sense 
of justice. Great Britain, her back against the 
wall; France, bleeding at every pore; Bel- 
gium, a shambles ; Italy, ploughed by the hoof 
and menaced with complete annihilation; 
America, bayed, bullied, insulted, challenged ; 
her citizens outraged and murdered; these 
were the confusions worse confounded — these 
the accumulated depredations against virtue, 
decency, democracy and civilization — that 
touched revulsive chords in every humane 
breast and demanded immediate militant 

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measures to dethrone tyranny and "make the 
world safe for democracy!" 

When forbearance ceased to be a virtue, he 
spoke in clarion tones and struck in avalanche 
of power. Into the war of maddened nations 
he threw his manhood, his strength and his 
soul. To his call for men, millions of will- 
ing, fearless patriots responded with victori- 
ous shouts. The Argonne, Flanders Field, 
Belleau Wood, and St. Mihiel— (Oh, hearts 
that ceased to beat at Freedom's call! Oh, 
mute but hallowed heroes in a righteous 
cause !) — emblazoned be thy names forever on 
Fame's Immortal Arch! America bled, he 
groaned; but in the vista saw eternal babel 
vanquished, and he exulted! 

He knew no law save Duty. He heard no 
voice save Service. And to these twin vir- 
tues he dedicated all he had, and gave of his 
prodigal treasures until his strength was bank- 
rupt. He sought no adulation; he asked no 
recompense. He labored in the fierce light of 
a many-voiced Time, and placed the stamp of 



his disapproval upon the secret machinations 
of a jealous Europe, demanding "open cove- 
nants openly arrived at." He hewed to the 
line, and many chips fell in unfriendly places. 
If ambition swayed him, it was the ambition 
of a patriot to achieve a patriot's duty — to 
keep America foremost in the galaxy of na- 
tions. 

'''Oh.'ye, whose hour glass shifts its tranquil sands 
In the unvexed silence of a student's cell; 
Ye whose untempted hearts have never tossed 
Upon the dark and stormy tides where life gives battle to the 

elements — and man 
Wrestles with man for some slight plank whose weight 
Will bear but one — while 'round the desperate wretch 
The hungry billows roar — and the fierce Fate, 
Like sorn^ huge monster, dim-seen thro' the surf. 
Waits him who drops; ye safe and formal men, 
Who write the deeds arid witli unfeverish hands 
Weigh ia nice scales the motives of the Great, 
Ye cannot know what ye have never tried!" — Lytton. 

Like a breath wafted from the deadly; Upas 
tree came a poisoned whispering. Too great 
for men to speak the truth of, he was maligned 
and bitterly set upon. Health that had been 
robust suddenly gave way beneath the weight 



of overexertion and the fierce onslaught of op- 
posing factions. Weakened in body, but 
strong in the right; fighting an unequal battle 
against insidious propaganda and persistent 
foes, he holds fast his estate in patriotic en- 
deavor, and manifests an unfaltering trust in 
all mankind. The future will not only vindi- 
cate his course, but place his name beside the 
heroic intellectual giants of the earth. 

Time, in its resistless course, will furrow 
the brow of Youth, whiten his locks and 
sap his splendid strength; custom may 
change or revolution mar the beauteous 
face of Nature; nations, now supreme, 
may fall into decay and suffer dissolution; 
men may come, and men may go and most 
men be forgotten. These are eventualities 
and cataclysms the causation of which human 
intelligence can neither fathom nor under- 
stand ; but, within the conception of the finite 
mind, unless it be the blotting out of every 
spark of Life upon our planet, nothing can suf- 



fice to tarnish or efface the fame of this 
Magnificent American ! 

Nothing is here recorded in extenuation of 
his faults ; nothing in flattery of his wonderful 
achievements. The outstanding facts of his- 
tory confirm the greatness of his executive 
record ; and, in the pride of our hearts, we hail 
him as a true exemplar of statesmanship. 

Safeguarded by the Present and by Poster- 
ity, his reputation is established — inviolable 
and beyond the reach of the poisoned shafts of 
calumny. Centuries yet unborn will bear wit- 
ness to his birthright as a Son of Earth, and 
pay just tribute to the merit of his faults ! » To- 
day, a Man ; tomorrow, an Immortal ! I choose, 
therefore, to quote from Immortality the high- 
est tribute ever paid Mortality and dedicate it 
to the world-war President of the United 
States — Woodrow Wilson : 

"His life was gciitlo, ami the elements 

So mixed in him, that Nature might ^tand up 

And say to all the world, 'This was a MAX.' " 

— Joseph Dc Barthc 
Washington, D. C, 

November 19, 1920 



"'God give us men. The time demands 

Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and willing hands ; 
Men whom the hist of office does not kill; 

Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy ; 
INIen who possess opinions and a will ; 

Men who have honor ; men Who will not lie ; 
Men who can stand before a demagogue 

And dam his treacherous flatteries without winking; 
Tall men, sun-crowned, who I'ive above the fog 

In pubHc duty and in private thinking."— J. G. Holland. 



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